(rshsdepot) Lawrence, KS

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Lawrence Journal World.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Depot restoration plans hit roadblock

By Chad Lawhorn 
 
October 16, 2008 
 
The passenger rail station is being cleaned and repaired by Depox Redux,  
Lawrence Moderns and other volunteers. Hopes of purchasing and restoring  Lawrence
’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe train depot will have to follow a  different 
track than once envisioned. 
 
City commissioners in June said they were interested in exploring a  low-cost 
purchase of the 1956 depot at Seventh and New Jersey streets. 
 
But city staff members recently have been told by BNSF leaders that the  
railroad is not interested in selling the land that the depot sits upon. 
 
“They are not willing to have the land go out of their hands,” said Diane  
Stoddard, assistant city manager. “But they are open to discussing options of  
transferring ownership of the building or perhaps leasing the building to the  
city.” 
 
The city, though, will have to decide whether it is interested in such a  
deal. Stoddard said the city doesn’t want to potentially spend hundreds of  
thousands of dollars on the building to have the railroad decide it later wants  to 
do something different with the land. 
 
In June, commissioners were told that it would cost about $500,000 to bring  
the building into compliance with the American with Disabilities Act and to 
make  several necessary repairs. 
 
Leaders of a citizens group, however, said they’re still hoping the city  can 
gain control of the deteriorating depot. Carey Maynard-Moody, an organizer  
of the group Depot Redux, said having the city take ownership of the building 
is  the best way to ensure that it ends up being designated as a  
historically-significant building. 
 
“This is a building that has some worth and value historically,”  
Maynard-Moody said of the building that was built in a modern post World War II  style. “
BNSF is not in the business of historic preservation of its buildings.  It is 
in the business of freight and the passage of freight.” 
 
Stoddard said the city this week sent BNSF a list of repairs that city  
inspectors believe need to be made to the building. The list includes major work  
such as replacing the building’s roof. Stoddard said the city hopes BNSF would  
agree to make the necessary repairs to preserve the building. The city is  
waiting on a response from the railroad. 
 
The Depot Redux group and other citizens already have started to do some  
basic maintenance at the building. Group member Marty Kennedy said volunteers  
have cleaned the windows, bathrooms, floors and added a welcome sign and map to  
the depot. 
 
Kennedy, a former city commissioner, said he thinks the city could  
successfully rehabilitate the station. 
 
“The city getting control of the depot would be the best long-term  solution,”
 Kennedy said. “We know the city would have to do the work in phases.  We 
understand it wouldn’t be a quick fix.” 
 
About 3,700 passengers a year use the depot to board a pair of Amtrak  trains 
that run through the city. But regional Amtrak supporters say that number  
could grow to about 14,000 passengers per year if a proposal to add new rail  
service between Kansas City and Oklahoma City materializes. 
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1790
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org